The document discusses strategies for early career scientists to network with more senior "Dr. God" researchers. It emphasizes that eminent scientists are still human and want to discuss science. It provides tips for approaching them, such as introducing yourself when you have their attention or asking about their work. Both junior and senior researchers can benefit from these relationships through mentorship, new ideas and techniques, and advancing their field. While networking may not always go smoothly, senior researchers understand the learning process for young scientists. With practice and viewing them as future colleagues rather than untouchable celebrities, networking with top scientists is achievable.

1. http://www.sciencemag.org/careers/2016/09/networking-dr-god
Connecting with senior researchers can be scary, but remember that they're only human.
Credit: Steve Debenport/iStockphoto
Networking with Dr. God
By Alaina G. LevineSep. 6, 2016 , 10:30 AM
Perhaps you’re at the Big Conference, standing in line for your $30 cup of coffee, when she strolls by. Or
maybe you’re sitting in the lab lounge, reading the Big Paper that was just published, and out of the corner of
your eye, you spot her. She’s the star around whom the whole field orbits. She is Dr. God.
Now your heart is hurdling out of your chest, and your hands are clammy with sweat. Do you introduce
yourself? You would love to collaborate with her, but how do you begin the conversation without seeming like
you are just trying to get something from her? “Why would she want to speak with me?” you wonder. “What
value could I possibly offer?”
Concerns like these are understandable, but the truth is that networking with Dr. God is within reach. It starts
with having the guts to approach and engage her, remembering that eminent researchers are mere mortals like
you who, for the most part, want what you want: to discuss and advance science.
Take William Phillips, a fellow at the National Institute of Standards and Technology in Gaithersburg,
Maryland, and a 1997 Nobel laureate in physics. “I’m happy to talk with young people,” he says. “In fact, it’s
one of the things I enjoy most. ... Nothing pleases me more than having a student come up and ask questions
and another young person comes over—and then I end up with a knot of young people.”

2. http://www.sciencemag.org/careers/2016/09/networking-dr-god
Mutually beneficial
In 2009, Eric Padron—at the time in the first year of his fellowship at Moffitt Cancer Center in Tampa,
Florida—was looking for a role model with whom he could develop a research alliance. “I thought, ‘Who’s a
person who’s extremely well respected in their field [and] has a reputation of being nice and productive to work
with?’” he says. “At the top of the list, no pun intended, was Dr. List,” referring to Alan List, an internationally
renowned expert in malignant hematology who later became Moffit’s president and CEO. So Padron emailed
List to request a meeting, which turned into a multiyear research partnership. Padron received valuable
mentorship and List got a new collaborator, which helped him further his research.
Their collaboration demonstrates how benefits from these types of relationships
between junior and senior researchers flow both directions—contrary to some
young scientists’ misconception that they are the only ones who will get anything
out of it, which can make them hesitant to reach out. “Many of us, as trainees,
don’t value our time and capabilities as much as we probably should,” Padron
says. “There’s a lot of things we can offer that are valuable to established
investigators.” For starters, early-career scientists from a different generation are
trained in techniques and technologies that may have not existed or were in their
embryonic stages when Dr. God was in school. “These young scientists are … so
highly skilled in areas I am not,” List says. “It’s complementary. I learn from
them as well. I can help them refine their questions, and I learn from them an
expertise in areas of training that I never did.”
“There’s equal knowledge coming back from early-career scientists,” agrees Liisa Kuhn, an associate professor
at the University of Connecticut Health Center in Farmington and president of the Society for Biomaterials.
“They look at things differently because of their unique backgrounds. They combine techniques in new ways
that I would never have dreamed of doing.”
Additionally, senior investigators know that networking with an up-and-comer offers an opportunity to build
their legacies. “It’s a way of seeding the field with new ideas,” Kuhn says. “It’s almost like having children,
carrying our intellectual energy forward.”
But just because these relationships offer benefits both ways doesn’t mean that early-career researchers don’t
need to put some thought and effort into it. When you want to connect with someone, first and foremost ask
yourself, “Why do you want to have a conversation with this person?” advises Steven Senger, an assistant
professor of mathematics at Missouri State University in Springfield. Over his career, he has made a point of
introducing himself to senior researchers at conferences and via email. “If you’re thinking just about forwarding
your career or trying to use this person as a tool, then that’s a bad reason to start a conversation. If you’re trying
to kiss up or curry favor, I don’t see that as very classy. But if you say, ‘How did you come up with this idea?’
then that’s better, because it’s a human talking to a human.”
“There should be some reason you want to talk with them,” Kuhn agrees. “It’s not the same as a movie star that
you want a picture with them,” she says—although, she laughs, “it’s OK to do a little bit of that.”

3. http://www.sciencemag.org/careers/2016/09/networking-dr-god
Taking the leap
At the Big Conference, there are often plenty of opportunities to say hello and launch a conversation. “What I
found most successful is if I am in line at a restaurant waiting to be seated near Dr. God and I introduce
myself,” Kuhn says. As an early-career investigator, “when I saw someone at breakfast at the [conference] hotel
restaurant, I wasn’t [too] shy to say, ‘Do you mind if I join you?’” she recalls. “It’s better to introduce yourself
when you have a captive audience. Try to catch them when they are sitting down or at the bar rather than
walking down the hall.” Or, “if you see [them] sitting down in the audience, sit near them and talk to them
during the break,” she advises. “That’s a great moment to hop in.”
Abigail Fraeman
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
For an icebreaker, declaring that you are a fan of their research can open the door to a broader conversation,
says Abigail Fraeman, a research scientist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California.
“Everybody likes to know that people appreciate their work, so they will take the compliment and want to learn
about your career as well.”
You can also engage senior leaders after they finish their talks by asking them about the work they presented,
Kuhn adds. Poster sessions hold especially good potential as well. “You could say, ‘Hey Dr. God, do you have a
minute to look at my poster?’ … Bring them over to look at your work. Don’t just wait and wait for someone to
come by.”
Being proactive is crucial. If you’re feeling hesitant, remember that, despite the scientist’s eminence in the field,
she’s just a person. This mindset has helped Senger build success and confidence in networking with leaders,
whom he doesn’t think of as superheroes. Instead, he focuses on the similarities they share. “We are fighting

4. http://www.sciencemag.org/careers/2016/09/networking-dr-god
side by side against the same demons,” he says. “I feel I’m meeting a comrade, ... that we actually live on the
same planet.” His final advice is simple: “Treat Dr. God like a human. … Don’t make it weird.”
It’s also helpful to remember that many senior researchers genuinely enjoy interacting with early-career
scientists. “It’s rewarding. I like passing on the knowledge,” Kuhn says. List adds: “As established
investigators, we all welcome the chance to mentor and help people succeed in their careers. We all remember
just how difficult it is in the beginning.”
That’s not to say that every single networking attempt is guaranteed to strike gold. “I remember a few scientists
who were not eager at all to talk to me,” Phillips recalls from earlier in his career. “They blew me off.” That can
happen with anyone, whether they are a Dr. God or not. Don’t let it bother you. For his part, Phillips has turned
those interactions around to make sure he doesn’t repeat what he sees as past wrongs. “I resolved that I wasn’t
going to be like that, and instead emulate those people who had been kind to me when I was a student.”
And even a networking interaction that hits some snags can ultimately yield positive results. As a second-year
graduate student, Fraeman had a rocky experience giving a presentation at a meeting of the space mission on
which she was working, with the principal investigator (PI) of the entire endeavor watching her from the first
row. “It was very nerve-racking for me to be standing in front of this person I had seen on TV,” she says. “I
froze. I wasn’t prepared for the level of detail of questions I was asked, and standing in front of the group for
the first time, things went more and more downhill.” But Fraeman kept going, and apparently she made a
positive impression on the PI. “He has been very supportive of me in my career, and it’s been wonderful.” The
experience taught her an invaluable lesson about the celebrities of the field: “Wherever you are in your career,
they’ve been there too. And if the first interaction doesn’t go well, … it’s not the end of the world. … Continue
interacting with them in the future, because they’re going to understand that you’re a young scientist and you
are still learning.”
“I’m a big fan of thinking we are all people working for the same goal of understanding how the world and
universe works,” Fraeman continues. “So you don’t have to elevate people who are further along in their careers
on a pedestal. … The best advice is don’t view them as Dr. God. View them as your future collaborator and
colleague.”
DOI: 10.1126/science.caredit.a1600126
Alaina G. Levine
Alaina G. Levine is a science writer, science careers consultant, and author of Networking for Nerds (Wiley,
2015)